My purpose here.....

My purpose here is two-fold: (1) To share information about the Civilian Conservation Corps and (2) To perhaps learn something about the world of blogging. If you find fault with the structure or layout of this blog, I hope you’ll just understand that it’s the result of a new guy trying to run an unfamiliar piece of equipment, all the while hoping he doesn’t lose a finger in the process. Which is to say, I hope you’ll stand quietly by and hope for the best. If you find fault with the content or the accuracy of things you find in this blog, I hope that you’ll bring them to my attention in a friendly, “thought you should know,” sort of way.

Although I said my purpose was two-fold, like an old work shirt, there may be many folds to this thing before all is said and done. I’d like to instill my passion for the history of the CCC in others, perhaps share some of the odd facts and figures that I’ve uncovered in more than a decade of study and post some photos that you may not have seen anywhere else. Additionally, I’d like to use this forum to let folks know what the CCC alumni are up to these days. I can’t promise you that there will be new content daily, or weekly or even monthly, but initially I hope to bring over a number of CCC-related articles that I’ve already written in order to provide some usefulness and entertainment at the outset. I have said on a number of occasions that there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about the Civilian Conservation Corps and what it meant to the United States. I hope that some of that passion will be evident as you browse through – and hopefully enjoy – my blog.

Visits Since December 1, 2007

HALL OF FAME

Listed here are some CCC enrollees who went on to especially noteworthy accomplishments after their time in the CCC. Some served with distinction in the military while others made their mark in different ways.

Henry "Red" Erwin

CCC Enrollee. Medal of Honor Recipient.

Michael Strank

CCC Enrollee. Iwo Jima Flag Raiser

Related Web Sites

CCC Legacy Chapter 44

Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy (Formerly the National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumi and the Camp Roosevelt Legacy Foundation) has numerous local chapters across the United States. Phoenix is home to CCC Legacy Chapter 44 , which meets the third Saturday of every month (except July and August) at the Maryvale Medical Center Cafeteria. Chapter 44 also produces a quarterly newsletter the "Cactus Country Crier."If you live in the Phoenix area or anticipate a visit and have an interest in the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps or if you just like to hang out with fellows who've seen a lot in their lives, we'd welcome you at our meetings. Post a comment here in this blog and I'll respond to you with an email directly.Mike

Camp Views

Below you will find photos of various CCC camps from locations across the U.S. Some of these images are from enrollee photo albums, some are official goverment images and others are actually from postcards that were printed and offered to enrollees. In most cases little or nothing remains of these camps today, but these images give us a pretty good idea of how the camps were set up and how the enrollees lived.

Springerville, AZ

Sperryville, VA

Fruita, CO

Caledonia, MN

Riley Creek, WI

Grisly Cargo

The bodies of those killed in the fire are packed out on horseback.

Grim Procession

The bodies of Blackwater Fire victims are hauled out of the forest, past CCC enrollees waiting to fight the fire.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

October 15th has been proclaimed Blog Action Day, with the selected focus being the environment. Nothing could be more pertinent to the story of the Civilian Conservation Corps than the environment and environmental issues. I defy anyone to point to another era in our nation’s history when the better part of a generation was given the opportunity to live and work in nature to improve America’s forests, parks and fields. Between 1933 and 1942 the enrollees of the CCC planted between 2 and 3 billion trees, developed some 800 state parks, built over 13,000 miles of foot trails and developed 52,000 acres of public campgrounds nationwide.

The story of the CCC is so closely intertwined with the environment, one could argue that environmentalism is at least the second biggest reason anyone actually remembers the CCC of 75 years ago. (The number one reason that most folks probably cite for remembering the CCC is that they have a family member who was in the program. This is not to say these same people will actually know anything about the CCC and how it was organized, but they remember the program because of a relative.) A few revisionist historians occasionally remember the CCC as well, but only for the purpose of trying to paint it as part of a larger theoretical failure of the New Deal. Whether or not the New Deal was a failure, I cannot say. However, I can say, without fear of meaningful contradiction, that the CCC was the most successful of the New Deal's many programs.

Parks and even forests that did not exist in 1933 sprang from nothing during the era of the CCC. Then, after four years of national focus on a World War and ridding the world of fascist aggression, Americans were able to return to more pleasant pursuits and there, waiting for them, were the myriad forestry and recreational improvements that the CCC boys had created. Few stopped to remember that a lot of those CCC boys went off to fight that war and didn’t come home to enjoy the fruits of their pre-war labor. Some folks are starting to remember now.

What we think of as “environmentalism” today was probably more akin to “conservationism” in the 1930s. Men (mostly) entered parks and forestry professions because they were good with their hands, knew field craft and could probably whip most comers down at the local tavern on Saturday night. They were called “rangers” or foremen, or supervisors or Local Experienced Men – LEMs for short. Today, their rough edges seem foreign to some of us, but many of their ideals prevail. Who doesn’t marvel at the quiet of a forest? Who isn’t touched by the beauty of sunlight through the treetops? Who isn’t impressed by the careful fit of granite stones placed 70 years ago?

Under the careful tutelage of these conservationists, the boys of the CCC lived and learned, worked and played. They learned to get along, and sometimes they learned the consequences of not getting along. In the process, these boys became conservationists themselves. In some cases the boys saw parts of their country that they otherwise might never have seen, and, on the cusp of traveling overseas to fight and die for that country, they probably gained a new appreciation for their United States.

It isn’t a stretch to say that the Civilian Conservation Corp raised a first generation of conservationists/environmentalists. It also isn’t a stretch to say that most Americans have forgotten that fact.